150 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [LECT. IV. 



1. shows the tuber nearly shrivelled to a skin; 2. 

 the tuber of last year after the plant it bears has 

 flowered ; 3. the new tuber, the production of the 

 present year ; 4. are the real roots of the plant*. 

 r. Our conjoined ovate tu- 



ber is the Radix testiculata 

 of 'authors-}-. 



, 2. The Conjoined club- 

 shaped tuber (Tuber clavce- 

 1 forme conjunctum) (fig. r ) is 

 of an oblong shape, thicker 

 at the loose extremity, and 

 resembling in some degree a short club. As in 

 the former species of tuber, it is generated every 



* There formerly existed a very absurd superstition con- 

 nected with the double state of these tubers. If a pair of them 

 be separated and thrown into water, the new tuber, owing to its 

 greater gravity, sinks, whilst the older one, being lighter, swims. 

 The swimming tuber, when prepared in a particular manner and 

 worn round the neck, was believed to possess the magic pro- 

 perty of securing to the wearer the strongest attachment of any 

 one he pleased ; and this belief still continues to prevail to some 

 extent among the ignorant. A more rational and useful purpose 

 to which the new tuber of the Orchis mono, and some other spe- 

 cies of the Orchidece is applied, is the manufacture of salop. For 

 this purpose the new tuber, which has attained its perfect growth, 

 is prepared by first scalding it in boiling, water to detract the 

 skin, then placing it in an oven for ten or twelve minutes to give 

 it semitransparency, and finally drying it in a moderate heat. 

 In this state it resembles sago, and constitutes a nutritious 

 wholesome article of diet. 



f Quasi testiculis animalium similis. 



